Northern Bahr el Ghazal State authorities have arrested two people accused of starting a fire, which has destroyed at least 38 households at Makuei Boma in Aulic Payam, Aweil East County.
Dut Atak, fire safety and disaster management director at the Civil Defense office in Aweil, says one of the suspects is a woman, whose house caught fire while preparing a meal. He identified her as Amel Majak, 29.
“After a neighbor, a man, saw the fire was about to spread to his hut, he also decided to light a nearby bush in an attempt to divert the wildfire,” Atak said of Garang Deng, 38. “But the fire later got wilder that, ending up burning down 38 houses.”
The two have been accused of violating Article 191 of the South Sudan Penal Code 2008.
It stipulates that whoever does any act in a manner so rashly or negligent as to endanger human life or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any person or property commits an offence.
“Upon conviction, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months
or with a fine or with both,” it reads.
A similar fire outbreaks in 2022 killed many people in the state.